What Ponte means by a Market Signal
Every public record on this site is a Market Signal. It is a narrower thing than it may look, and reading one correctly starts with knowing what Ponte did and did not establish.
This is an explanation Ponte wrote, not a record Ponte observed. Figures quoted in it are counted from the register at the time you load the page. Last revised 9 Sep 2026.
The definition, in one sentence
A Market Signal is a structured record of a commercial intention that Ponte Trade observed somewhere outside Ponte, from a public source, and restated in Ponte's own words.
Three parts of that sentence carry weight. Observed: somebody stated an intention and Ponte recorded that they stated it. Outside Ponte: no Market Signal originates from a Ponte member or a Ponte process. Restated: the words on the page are Ponte's, composed from structured fields, not the source's prose reproduced.
What a Market Signal contains
Each record carries the facts the source actually stated, and Ponte counts them rather than assuming them. Of 3,917 records currently within the observation window, 3,780 state a quantity and 3,668 state a delivery term.
- What is being sought or offered, as a product subject and a Ponte category
- Whether it is a buyer requirement or a seller offer
- A quantity, where the source stated one, reproduced exactly and never converted
- A delivery term, where the source stated one
- Payment terms, where they were stated as a term rather than as prose
- An origin or destination country, where the source named one Ponte could resolve
- The date Ponte observed it, and the source's own validity date where given
What a Market Signal is not
This is the part that matters commercially. A Market Signal is not a Ponte listing. It is not a confirmed buyer or seller. It is not a mandate, and it is not a deal. Ponte has not verified the counterparty, has not confirmed the requirement is still open, and has not been authorised to represent it.
Nor is it a Qualified Opportunity, which is a different record class entirely and never appears on a public page. The two registers are never blended.
Why no counterparty is named
Ponte publishes structured facts only. No counterparty name, contact detail, street address, source URL or source identity appears on any public page, and the build refuses to ship if one does.
That is a rights position rather than a product limitation, and it has a useful consequence: because there is no identity to withhold, a Ponte page can be complete on its own terms rather than truncated at the point a reader most wants substance.
Why records disappear
A Market Signal is only "current" for 45 days from its most recent observation. After that it is still shown as a record that was really observed, but it is no longer presented as current and is no longer offered to search engines.
An observation does not become false with age; it becomes a worse guide to what is happening now. Treating a six-month-old requirement as live is the single most common way a trade lead wastes somebody's week.
Sources
Where this guide relies on somebody else’s authority, it says so and links to them rather than restating their work.
- UN Comtrade — Official trade statistics record completed customs flows after the fact — a different question from observed forward intent.
- World Bank WITS — Aggregate national trade and tariff data, typically published two or more years behind the current period.
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